DNA Paternity Testing Guide

DNA paternity testing, also referred to as parentage testing, uses DNA, or deoxyribonucleic acid, the biological basis of heredity, to prove or disprove the relationship between the child and the supposed father. The accuracy of paternity DNA testing is backed by the scientific fact that half of a person’s DNA comes from the father while the other half comes from the mother.

If two or more of the same family members need testing to determine paternity, all of them are tested along with the mother and the child. This does require more intense testing and will rule out the family members until one person shows results as the father. If testing for a decreased or missing mother or father, you can use the DNA samples from other family member to determine paternity.

Testing DNA subjects the samples to a battery of at least sixteen DNA markers. These markers provide genetic profiles for each of the persons being tested. The child’s DNA profile is then compared with the profiles of both the mother and the supposed father to confirm whether or not the child has indeed inherited half of the genes of the alleged father. Statistical analysis using specific computer programs to calculate the possibility of paternity is then used to establish the possibility of the parentage.

The collection of these specimens is very much different from DNA Paternity testing using kits or DNA paternity testing in labs where buccal swabs are used for sample collection. In a prenatal DNA paternity test procedure, an OB-Gyne will perform the procedure of collecting amniotic fluid or chorionic villi that will contain the unborn child’s DNA.

In all, the reasons for paternity testing come down to he said/ she said and courts need answers. Paternity testing in support cases, divorce cases and grandparent rights cases all use genetic DNA paternity testing to settle disputes. Another case of paternity testing that has become known over the years is the fight to keep a surrogate baby, the egg of the mother and father are implanted in a surrogate until birth. In some cases the mother caring the child does not want to give the child the rightful parents, in this case a genetic paternity test will reveal the paternal and maternal parents.